The Yost Family Origins:
From Europe to Colonial America
The story of Hans Casper Jost/Yost, Eleanor Moerschel, and the generations who carried their family from Europe into colonial Pennsylvania and Maryland.
A Family History Preserved
This collection traces the Joust, Jost, and Yost family through four early generations, beginning with accounts of their European origins and continuing through their settlement in colonial America.
The material is drawn from a family history assembled through decades of genealogical investigation, correspondence with relatives, and examination of historical records.
Original Research and Acknowledgments
We are grateful to Mrs. Marsha Stanley for providing this history of Hans Casper Jost and his wife Eleanor Moerschel and their descendants.
Information about the early generations was gathered by Alfred C. Yost of St. Louis, Missouri, in the late 1920s and early 1930s. He traveled throughout the United States and parts of Germany, talking to relatives, examining their old family records, and visiting courthouses and historical societies.
The story of the first three or four generations is practically word for word as Alfred Yost wrote it. His nephew, Robert W. Yost, a St. Louis attorney, inherited his files. The information about later generations is based on research by Mrs. Stanley and her cousins.
Additional information was published by Patrick Daspit of Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, on The Yost Family WEB pages.
Generation One
Jacob Joust
Jacob Joust was described in the family history as a “Burgesse” in the District of Meintz, in the Duchy of Franconia.
- Jacob Joust — continued in Generation Two.
- Peter Joust.
Generation Two
Jacob Joust
Jacob appears in a record dated 1710 as a member of a Protestant colony in Franconia.
- Christian Joust (Jost) — continued in Generation Three.
- Klaus (Nicklaus) Jost.
Generation Three
Christian Joust (Jost)
Persecution in the Emmen Valley
In 1714, Christian and Klaus were recorded in a religious migration to the Kingdom of Württemberg. In 1727–1728, the family history places them in an account of persecution against Protestants in the Emmen Valley of Switzerland, near Langnau.
According to that account, Christian was killed and his wife Barbara was imprisoned at Bern, where she died shortly afterward. Christian’s land and property were confiscated, leaving his children destitute.
The original historian described the confiscation of Christian’s property and the imprisonment of Barbara as part of the religious upheavals that drove members of the family toward migration.
The compilation describes a meeting held at Bern early in 1728, at which a resolution was passed to transport impoverished religious refugees to a Dutch port for passage to England.
It also refers to Queen Anne’s earlier proclamation offering refuge to persecuted Protestants in England’s American colonies.
The family history identifies six children of Christian and Barbara, recording their ages in 1728.
- Jacob Jost — born 1710 in Europe; died 1755 in America.
- Hans Casper Yost — born 1712 near Meintz; died 1777 in Georgetown, Maryland.
- Chartharine Jost — born 1714.
- Heinrich Jost — born 1717; died before 1792, reportedly in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Arrived in Philadelphia in 1738 and was bound out to work on a farm.
- Barbara Jost — born 1720.
- Johan Jost — born 1724 in Württemberg; died about 1780–1781 in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. Reportedly arrived in America around 1741 and lived in Lancaster and York counties before moving north.
Migration to Pennsylvania
The German and Swiss Refugees
The original family history describes thousands of German and Swiss religious refugees who traveled toward Dutch ports seeking passage to England and eventually to America.
It portrays the difficulties faced by the emigrants, including overcrowding, disease, hunger, and uncertainty about transportation. The historian Eshelmann was quoted as describing their suffering as among “the darkest pages in the annals of Christian people.”
Many refugees were bound out as servants in England. The original author suggested that some Yost women may have remained there, although the absence of their names from immigration records does not establish what happened to them.
William Penn and the Pennsylvania Colony
The land that became Pennsylvania was granted to William Penn by King Charles II in 1681 in settlement of a debt owed by the Crown to Penn’s father. The family historian describes the grant as exceeding 40,000 square miles.
Penn and his agents encouraged settlers from the Rhine provinces to establish communities where religious and civil liberties would be protected. The settlement of Germantown in 1683 was followed by additional German-speaking immigration.
The newcomers entered a colony governed under English law and institutions. Colonial officials became concerned about the arrival of large numbers of Continental Europeans speaking different languages and following different customs.
Beginning in 1727, arriving immigrants were required to take oaths of allegiance to the British Crown. Additional oaths of abjuration and fidelity were subsequently required.
The Journey Across the Atlantic
The historian described the emigrants’ journey as a difficult undertaking that could consume much of a year. Travelers moving down the Rhine passed numerous customs stations, often facing delays and additional expenses.
After reaching Holland, passengers sometimes waited weeks for clearance and favorable winds. The Atlantic crossing itself could take seven to twelve weeks or longer.
Overcrowded vessels, inadequate provisions, contaminated water, and disease made the crossing especially dangerous. Dysentery, scurvy, typhoid, and smallpox were among the illnesses described in the family account, with children particularly vulnerable.
On reaching Philadelphia, passengers were examined for contagious disease and required to swear allegiance to the British Crown.
Those unable to pay their transportation expenses could enter into agreements to work for a specified number of years. Such arrangements were known as redemptioner contracts.
The original historian emphasized that many immigrants emerged from these years of service to become farmers, craftsmen, and established members of their communities.
Settlement and Expansion
German and Swiss settlers established communities throughout southeastern Pennsylvania, particularly along the Susquehanna and Schuylkill river systems and their tributaries.
Before and after the American Revolution, descendants moved through the Shenandoah Valley, across the Alleghenies, and into the Ohio Valley. Later generations spread into the Midwest and farther west.
The family historian regarded the Pennsylvania Germans, particularly those of Lancaster County, as important contributors to the agricultural and industrial development of the region.
Religious Communities and Family Names
The compilation describes the religious beliefs of Mennonite and Anabaptist communities, including their opposition to infant baptism, military force, and the taking of oaths.
It also associates these communities with earlier Waldensian traditions. That historical connection reflects the original author’s interpretation and should not be considered proof of a direct religious lineage.
Ernest Muller, described as a preacher in Langnau, reportedly recorded Yost families in the area in 1621, including a Christian Yost and a Klaus Yost.
Other surnames appearing in the account include Baumgardner, Probst or Brobst, Moritz, Bichsel or Bixler, Ruch or Reich, Studder, Utzenberger, Dellenbach, Raeber or Reber, Kreyenbuel or Graybill, Greber or Garber, and Rothlisperger.
The historian noted that many of these surnames later appeared among families in eastern Pennsylvania, suggesting connections between the Swiss communities and the immigrants who settled in the colony.
Generation Four
Hans Casper Yost (1712–1777)
The Voyage of the Samuel, 1733
Hans Casper Yost, originally identified as Gasper Jost or Joost, reportedly arrived at Philadelphia on August 17, 1733, at the age of twenty-one.
He was a redemptioner passenger aboard the Samuel of London, commanded by Hugh Percy. The ship sailed from Rotterdam and stopped at Deal before crossing the Atlantic.
The family historian recorded that the voyage lasted eleven weeks and that forty-one passengers died of fever, reportedly caused by contaminated drinking water stored in old wine casks.
The Samuel — Details Recorded in the Family History
Vessel: Samuel of London
Commander: Hugh Percy
Arrival: August 17, 1733
Departure port: Rotterdam, Holland
Intermediate stop: Deal, England
Reported passengers: 291
Reported deaths during voyage: 41
On arrival in the Delaware River, many passengers were reportedly too ill to disembark immediately. Casper was among those who landed and took the oath of allegiance to the King of England.
The historian described the Samuel as an eighty-ton brigantine approximately sixty feet long and thirty feet at its widest point.
Redemptioner Service and Marriage
After arriving in Pennsylvania, Casper was bound to William Moerschel, also known as Marshall, of Lancaster County. He reportedly worked for two years to repay his transportation debt.
William Moerschel was described as the son of Toby Moerschel, who had immigrated from Holland before 1700.
Following the completion of his service, Casper married William’s daughter Eleanor Moerschel.
The Lancaster County Years
The first property tax record identified by the historian dates to 1742, when Casper was assessed on a forty-acre farm, one horse, and one head of cattle.
The family history reports that Casper and his household abandoned their clearing in 1756 during frontier raids associated with the conflicts between colonial settlers and Native American groups.
Another episode was reported in 1765, when violence near Lebanon Township allegedly forced the family to flee again.
The historian recorded that Casper “rode the valley warning the approach of the Indians.” The account also refers to violence near a place called Yost’s Mill, but acknowledges that the owner of the mill and the identities of the affected family members could not be established.
By 1765, Casper was paying a provincial business tax in Lancaster Borough as a tanner.
From Pennsylvania to Maryland
Casper and his family reportedly moved to the Antietam Valley of Maryland by 1769, possibly in connection with the religious community established near Elizabeth Town, now Hagerstown.
On August 16, 1771, he purchased Lot No. 88 in an addition to Georgetown, Maryland, from Beatty and Hawkins of Prince George’s County.
The property lay within a tract known as “Knave’s Disappointment.” The lot reportedly had ninety feet of frontage on High Street and extended toward the Potomac River.
The historian noted that by approximately 1933 the property was occupied by an oil station near Pennsylvania Avenue and the Rock Creek bridge in Georgetown.
The Georgetown Census of 1776
The family historian transcribed the following household from the 1776 census of George Towne Hundred:
Household of Casper Yost
Casper — age 64
Eleanor — age 58
Tobias — age 21
Susannah — age 17
Phillip — age 14
The same census reportedly listed Casper’s son John nearby, with his wife Rebecca and their children.
Nearby Household of John Yost
John — age 33
Rebecca — age 27
Katherine — age 7
John Jr. — age 5
Mary — age 4
Elizabeth — age 2
Death and Estate
An inventory of Casper Yost’s estate was filed in Georgetown on August 4, 1777, with a reported valuation of £216 10s. 4d.
Because estate inventories were commonly prepared shortly after death, the historian inferred that Casper probably died in early July 1777, at approximately sixty-five years of age.
Family tradition held that Eleanor, sometimes called Patsy, died in 1780 at the home of her son John in Fairfax Court House, Virginia.
- Henry Yost — born 1749 near Lebanon, Pennsylvania; listed as dying in 1803 at Staunton, Virginia. Extended biography in Part II.
- Christian Yost — born 1737; married a member of the Krebs family. His estate administration reportedly provided £10 for maintenance of Casper’s Georgetown grave. Land transactions included tracts called “Old Plott,” “Yost’s Narrow Chance,” and “Yost’s Claim.”
- George Yost — born 1739; married a member of the Ritchie family. Associated with land in Frederick County, Maryland, including tracts called “Yost’s Disappointment” and “Yost’s Ridge.”
- Eleanor Yost — born 1741; died 1755 at age fourteen. Twin of Elizabeth.
- Elizabeth Yost — born 1741. Twin of Eleanor. No marriage record identified.
- John Yost — born 1743 in Lancaster County; reported death in 1826 in Tazewell County, Virginia. Extended biography and Revolutionary War arms contracts in Part II.
- Casper Yost Jr. — born 1745; married Magdalen Shaefer.
- William Yost — born 1747; married Agnes Zimmerman.
- Catherine Yost — born 1752.
- Jacob Yost — born 1754.
- Mary Yost — born 1755; married John Keller.
- Tobias Yost — born 1757; never married.
- Susanna Yost — born 1759; married Frederick Kokendoffer.
- Philip Yost — born 1762; married Melander Morris.
Jacob Jost (1710–1755)
Arrival in Pennsylvania, 1728
Jacob Jost reportedly arrived at Philadelphia on August 23, 1728, aboard the Mortonhouse, commanded by John Coultas.
The passenger list identified him as Jacob Joost. The vessel sailed from Rotterdam and last stopped at Deal before arriving in Pennsylvania.
Jacob qualified on August 24, 1728, according to the Provincial Council minutes cited in the original compilation.
He settled in Limerick Township, then part of Philadelphia County.
The family historian recorded that Jacob died in 1755 of “Bone Fever” and described him as the first Yost of record to be buried in America.
Historical Record Cited by the Family Historian
Minutes of the Provincial Council, published in the Colonial Records of Pennsylvania, Volume III, page 327.
The allegiance lists were incorporated into Provincial Council minutes from 1727 through 1736 and published by Pennsylvania in 1852.
- Nicholas Jost.
- Henry Jost.